The residents of Cowbridge will be disappointed to learn that H from Steps will not be receiving an 8ft statue in their town. It turns out that comedian Joe Lycett had seeded multiple fake news stories to the media over the last month on his Channel 4 show, and the statue was one of them.
On the show, Lycett revealed the story of the hoax and H himself made an appearance on Late Night Lycett to confirm that it was fake news. Lycett then joked that the statue would only be torn down in a few years when people remember H’s historic links to the slave trade.
H spoke to BBC Wales after the show and said that he and Lycett are great friends, and that creating fun fake news was a way to deflect from all of the bad fake news circulating. He also admitted that it had been tough keeping the ruse a secret from family and friends, with his mum being sworn to secrecy.
Lycett also planted stories about a bruise that looked like Prince Harry and a Banksy mural of Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz, all of which had journalists frantically checking their stories to see if they had been duped. H said that the hoax had shone a spotlight on people who sit behind keyboards and whinge without contributing, and that it was great to have something funny and joyful in the media.
In conclusion, the statue of H from Steps was a fake news story planted by Joe Lycett on his Channel 4 show. The hoax received widespread coverage and even made it onto BBC Breakfast. It’s refreshing to see that amidst all the negative news circulating, Lycett was able to bring some light-heartedness and joy to the media
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